Your new client has just missed a progress payment on his kitchen remodel. The reasons are not entirely clear to you, but you are not comfortable incurring any additional expenses until you get this straightened out. Your next phone call is to your lawyer. Can you stop work until the payment is made? The simple answer is yes. If your client isn't paying according to the terms of the contract, then the client has breached the contract. Legally, that releases you from the obligation to keep working. But, unfortunately, there remains the issue of why the client withheld the payment in the first place. Contract Language The client may have the right to withhold payment if the contractor breached the
